Case studies

Successful companies need successful people. Properly trained, qualified employees tend to be well motivated and that’s exactly the combination that makes for a prosperous business. Without the right skills, employers face skills shortages, resulting in costly temporary staff, loss of revenue and customers, loss of business to competitors and reduced standards across the board.

In 1999, Carpeting Merseyside’s proprietor, John Garvey, first met with local training provider, Huyton Churches Training Services to highlight the desperate skills needs within the company and the wider floor covering industry in general. Changes were happening in the industry such as the introduction of C.S.C.S card, a virtual ‘licence to operate’ for staff in the industry. This card can only be achieved by floor fitters with trade qualifications, so it was essential the industry started to skill up. In addition, the average age within the industry is 52, making it vital to start attracting young people to ensure its future survival. John believed the solution to this was to train apprentice floor fitters.

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In the past, Carpeting Merseyside did not provide any formal training, but now the company delivers a full framework of qualifications. Apprentices receive one week off-the-job training every month, which gives them the opportunity to work with a wide range of products. Thanks to support from a major manufacturing company, which supplies all the training materials free of charge, apprentices progress much faster, as they get plenty of hands-on experience, not hampered by the need to conserve expensive materials.

John Garvey is a firm believer in the business benefits Apprenticeships bring: "Having a highly trained, quality workforce undoubtedly has major business benefits, notwithstanding the ability to keep up with customer demand and increase turnover.

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 "There are high levels of satisfaction and confidence among our customers, which is largely due to having a highly skilled team at Carpeting Merseyside."

Apart from promoting Apprenticeships within his own firm, John has worked tirelessly to promote and develop a floor covering academy in Merseyside, the first college in the area ever to offer this kind of training. Previously, employers had to send staff to Manchester to receive floor covering training. Over a five year period, Carpeting Merseyside managed to persuade funding organisations and other employers in the industry to work with them to develop their training vision. The academy opened in April 2004 and since then has expanded the number of apprentice places to 40, including the company’s own two apprentices. Carpeting Merseyside is continuing to work in collaboration with Huyton Churches and other further education (FE) colleges to raise the standards within the industry in the whole of the North West.